How to Speak Your Prospects' Language

David Ogilvy, called The Father of Advertising, said, “If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular.” 

How many times have you landed on a website that made your eyes glaze over and your brain turn to mush because the writing was full of jargon or just felt like it wasn't directed toward you? How long did you spend on that site?

To make your prospect stick around long enough to hear what you have to say, you’ve got to speak their language. Here’s how to learn the language your prospects speak.

1. Listen to your client testimonials. What words do they use? How do they describe working with you? How do they describe the problems you solved? How do they describe your services?
2. Talk to your clients. Sit down with a few of your clients and ask them questions designed to get them talking about how you’ve helped them. Listen to the language they use.
3. Listen on social media. There are Facebook groups and LinkedIn groups for just about every market segment imaginable. Get in there and listen.
4. Mine product and service reviews. Get online and look at reviews for products and services similar to yours. How do the reviewers talk? What are they talking about? What’s important to them?

Speaking your prospects' language is the only way they’ll spend any time with you. But so many companies are speak as if they're talking to themselves. Learn the language, and you’ll probably be ahead of your competition in one easy step.